Maimane hesitant over EFF ambition to take over City of Tshwane
25 May 2019
DA leader Mmusi Maimane has placed doubt over the EFF's ambition of having its own mayor take over the City of Tshwane through open negotiations.
Maimane said having an EFF mayor in the capital city would not honour the wishes of the people of Tshwane. He was speaking at the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria on Saturday.
The EFF has been in talks with the DA over its wishes to take over the city. EFF leader Julius Malema has suggested on several occasions the party will take over the mayoral position after the general elections with the DA taking mayoral committee positions.
At a media briefing on May 16, Malema threatened the DA saying that if boardroom talks were not successful, the party could take away the city from the DA by challenging DA mayor Stevens Mokgalapa through a motion of no-confidence.
"If the DA refuses then these other options will come in but so far we are talking and we don't foresee any hostilities about the possibility of power sharing. We will have a mayor in Tshwane, the DA will have MMC's. The DA will have a mayor in Johannesburg and the EFF will have MMC's," Malema told journalists.
Maimane however shied against this, saying that no agreement was on the table.
"That is a decision that the DA still has to engulf itself on. We can't simply say we will have an EFF mayor, the electoral outcomes at this point in time are such that the EFF got 11% of the vote in Tshwane, if not less than that. How will we be able to honour the will of the people in Tshwane by simply just saying that?
"For us principle remains, can we build a non-racial South Africa? Can we uphold the Constitution? Can we ensure that we have a market based economy? Can we ensure that we uphold the will of the people and ultimately have a plan for government? It's not a question of just saying, now we will go away from that coalition because the EFF wants a particular agenda. It can't work like that."
Maimane said the DA was consulting with the opposition and other coalition partners on the matter.
